The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The New Establishmentarians

Text Size

The New Establishmentarians

By Robert Stacy McCain on 7.12.09 @ 8:54PM

Am I the only one left who thinks of conservatism as a philosophy of opposition, a defiant creed that aims to challenge the hegemony of organized liberalism? The reason I ask is because of a rather strange article in today's Boston Globe:

Where . . . will the next big conservative ideas come from? A few young thinkers are offering intriguing new intellectual frameworks for conservative principles. . . .
[T]heir ideas provide a glimpse of what the search for new ideas looks like, and how conservatives might come up with a new conceptual scaffolding in what are, politically and economically, unfamiliar times.

A rather strange article, I say, because one of the "young thinkers" named is Reiham Salam of the New America Foundation (NAF). If that causes some conservatives to scratch their heads, take a gander at the NAF board of directors. To say that the most recognizably "conservative" name on the list is Francis Fukuyama would be to say everything that need be said, were it not for the presence on the NAF board of Berrnard L. Schwartz.

Ring a bell? Yep, the same Bernard L. Schwartz who gave more than $1 million to Bill Clinton and Democrats, and whose Loral Space & Communications was fined $20 million for providing sensitive missile technology to Beijing.

Obviously, Schwartz is just the fellow to sponsor the development of "intriguing new intellectual frameworks for conservative principles." Another of the "young thinkers" named by the Globe is Megan McArdle, who supported Barack Obama in the last election. Such are the fonts of "the next big conservative ideas," you see.

View all comments (24) | Leave a comment

Phillips| 7.12.09 @ 9:02PM

"intriguing new intellectual frameworks for conservative principles. . . ."

Ugh! If they are "new intellectual frameworks" then they are not "frameworks" for conservative principles.

Mary| 7.12.09 @ 9:57PM

They may be the new intellectuals, but I don't believe they can shape public opinion. Douthat, Salam are writers with ideas that moral liberals could or should espouse. I think they're moral men in that I think they're honest. But they're also library men. I don't think they have a clue about the men whose wages they want the government to add a stipend to. It's a class of people to be dealt with.

What would help each of these men is to leave their profession -what they've learned will never be lost- and work construction or do some kind of physical labor. To sweat for their food. They're bloodless, and that's a big problem.

Charles Murray said the eternal America hangs in the balance when those who seek to shape public opinion live lives cut off from middle, struggling America. He noted in his AEI speech that not so long ago, these 'elite' for lack of less trite term, came from backgrounds where struggle could be understood because it could be recalled.

When my parents bought their first home we moved into a "mixed" neighborhood. We were a lower middle class family living next door to a family that owned one of the furniture stores in town. We had no car, they had two. This was an upper-class family. My mother and Norma became the best of friends. When I moved into my first apartment he let me buy a few things and pay them off over a few months. He never charged me a dime in interest. Their daughter who was just a couple of months younger than I was could touch fingers when we reached outside our bedroom windows.

The separation between upper and lower class always was and always will be, but the disdain that the upper seems to have for the middle, may not be something brand new, but that disdain has gained strength.

I think what Palin's entry into the fray made undeniably manifest is what Mr. Codevilla wrote about: The Court Party vs. The Country Party. The Court sees us as a mass to be moved around as circumstances dictate. As things progress or regress, that might even include a duty to die.

It's not really the election of Obama that has me feeling like the sword of damocles is dangling, but all the forces that I knew were there and just didn't realize how eager they were to swallow whole. I can't watch him without feeling gloomy. And I don't want to feel that way, he's the president. Moving from him to Douthat and Salam is the difference between a blue valium and a yellow one. All three breed a kind of unnerving resignation.

Irvine California| 7.12.09 @ 10:00PM

What a facinating article. I’m looking for a marketing expert to help with a project, could you help? Please come visit my site Irvine California Business Directory when you got time.

Spokane Washington| 7.12.09 @ 10:00PM

You share valuable information and excellent design you got here! I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts and time into the stuff you post!! Thumbs up. Please come visit my site Spokane Washington Yellow Pages when you got time.

Ran| 7.12.09 @ 11:28PM

"Where . . . will the next big conservative ideas come from? A few young thinkers are offering intriguing new intellectual frameworks for conservative principles."

The "new intellectual framework", establishmentarianism, is properly called dyslexia politicus, a common epidemic malady resulting in electile poll dysfunction caused by a confusion of Left and Right. Bush II had a major dose, man. It rendered his veto pen impotent for more than six years. Side effects include caving to globahhhhhl wahhhhhrming hysteria and wanting to scrawl your name on blue TARPs.

Peter Ferrara's TAS article What Conservatives Must Now Do provides one approach to disestablishmentarianism. That's for you, Mary. Cheers!

Flower Power| 7.12.09 @ 11:35PM

I bet the elitist Obama has soft hands--not a callous anywhere to be seen on those perfectly manicured hands. Ugh!

Des Moines Iowa| 7.12.09 @ 11:42PM

You got a really useful blog I have been here reading for about an hour. I am a newbee and your success is very much an inspiration for me. Please come visit my site Des Moines Iowa Business Directory when you got time.

Glendale California| 7.12.09 @ 11:43PM

Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog? Please come visit my site Glendale California Yellow Pages when you got time.

MattSwartz| 7.13.09 @ 12:32AM

I think that the NAF differs from the "mainstream" conservative thinktanks in degree rather than substance.

Heritage and AEI are chock-full of people who have no problem going along with much of Obama's agenda. They don't want a small government, they want a stream-lined, "manageable" one that's "market-friendly". It's obvious that many of them would sell out whatever socially conservative stances they might have to influence economic policy, and they don't differ noticeably from the (dominant) hawkish wing of the Democratic party on foreign affairs, either.

G. A. Kevis| 7.13.09 @ 1:30AM

Infil-traitors ?

Conservatives be ever vigilant:
Guard the conservative chicken coops for
the eggs of Constitutional tradition. Chickens
are lost - so be it; but the eggs - they're
important.

Set booby traps for interloper leftist
foxes in 'disguise'.

Bob| 7.13.09 @ 7:41AM

RSM -- it is simple. You believe conservatism is a philosophy of opposition because that is who YOU are. The 21% of voters who call themselves Republicans are primarily social conservatives whose PRIMARY emphasis is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage.

The reason you need ideas is that you can't have breakthroughs in the future without them. Imagine running a company whose emphasis is opposition to their competition. They would never recognize new trends and always be last to the market with new products.

Ideologue commentators like you make a living by writing opposition columns that give red meat to your readers. But governing and managing requires a forward looking plan and not just being against things.

Mary is right that the young writers have little real world experience. Conservative think tanks are more moderate because in order to exist, they have to utilize reason -- something lacking among most social conservatives. You cannot look at economic data, for example, and believe that tax cuts are stimulative in the shorter term.

Usually, the primary reason people are in opposition is that they lack any good ideas. Remember that a good offense is the best defense.

Teflon93| 7.13.09 @ 8:39AM

If "new ideas" are required to win elections, somebody please tell me how Pelosi and Reid won in 2006 and Obama won in 2008?

Bob| 7.13.09 @ 9:09AM

Teflon, while you could make the tongue in cheek remark that no ideas are ever new, in fact, Obama had clear actionable differences with Bush and Republicans -- not just criticisms. He was a prime supporter of getting out of Iraq, doing more in Afghanistan, using diplomacy instead of the military, national health care, etc. This is far different than the Republican rhetoric which complains about everything Obama but is not recommending any solutions to major issues except for tax cuts which didn't work for Bush.

When Reagan ran for President, he told people about the America he wanted and what he was going to do to get there. It was a positive agenda and very different from Carter. Republicans today have no positive agenda -- that's the point.

Solo| 7.13.09 @ 9:19AM

Conservatism is not a "philosophy of opposition". It is a philosophy that seeks to CONSERVE the philosophical principles of "The Enlightenment"; Natural Law (individual sovereignty) and its application to the governance of men within a structured and 'just' society.

It just seems as though conservatism is a "philosophy of opposition" because it is continuously attempting to beat back a relentless assault on that "individual sovereignty" by what is essentially an ignorant, selfish and angry 'mob' who are being manipulated by 'statists' and facilitated by a corrupted judiciary.

The maintenance of a Constitutional Republic is hard work. It requires an educated and vigilant citizenry. Is it any wonder, then, that we are watching it sublimate before our very eyes?

Deborah D| 7.13.09 @ 11:02AM

I recall a very prominent conservative once saying his conservative publication was standing athwart history yelling, "Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it" Sounds rather oppositional to me. Just sayin...

Basil Plumley| 7.13.09 @ 12:00PM

Bob

You said-He was a prime supporter of getting out of Iraq, doing more in Afghanistan, using diplomacy instead of the military, national health care, etc. This is far different than the Republican rhetoric which complains about everything Obama but is not recommending any solutions to major issues except for tax cuts which didn't work for Bush.

Sorry Bob, but I watch just about all of Obama's speeches and commercials. I don't recall him telling the American people that he was going on a World Tour to apologize for American exceptionalism.
I don't recall him telling the American people that he was going to spend $Trillions of dollars.
I do recall Obama campaigned on giving tax cuts to 95% of America. Oddly, those are the same kind of tax cuts you disdain.
The American voter basically voted for a tabula rasa whose political background consisted of a lot of "present" votes.
America fell in love with an image with very little substance. That would explain your continued support for the guy you voted for.

As for Reagan, Reagan was no shoo-in for President. He was behind in the polls until late October. Reagan had to overcome the "warmonger" image painted by his opponents. It is wonderful that you have those "moonlight and magnolias" images of Reagan. They certainly belie the horse manure you still shovel on this board.

That is where you and Obama are quite similar. You both keep shoveling when the facts and history are against you.

Bob| 7.13.09 @ 12:25PM

Basil, you continue to show your lack of intellectual heft -- but that is quite obvious. Perhaps you can show me the quote (not your interpretation) that Obama apologized for American exceptionalism. He did say he believed in diplomacy which, in its formulation, means that in order to achieve your goals, you must admit mistakes. True exceptionalism INCLUDES honesty -- but that is something that you, and other ideologues, would not recognize.

Regarding the stimulus plan, even before he took the office, it was widely reported that he was putting together a stimulus plan and believed that the Republican tax cuts hurt our economy. It seems you don't know how to listen to speeches and position papers -- but I expect that of you.

And your lack of understanding of economics and the underlying mathematics that support it is obviously showing. My position has been consistently that tax cuts are not stimulative to GDP once you have adjusted for inflation. The data clearly supports that contention. I don't disdain tax cuts -- I only say that tax cuts have lead to increased debt and that you should cut spending first, before you cut taxes as any responsible fiscal conservative would do. But then again, people with limited comprehension like you wouldn't understand macroeconomic theory and political reality. In addition, I have often proposed a flat tax and elimination of the corporate income tax in favor of a consumption tax. How you can think I am against tax cuts is beyond rationalization.

Regarding his "present" votes, you neglect to say that in Illinois politics voting present is a method to get a bill changed without putting it off of the agenda. Then again, you are not one that understands fact.

Do you really disagree that Reagan presented a plan for America? As I've said many times, I consider the major failure of Reagan was the large debt he created. Even his own economists said as much. But that does not mean his other accomplishments, especially in regard to the Soviet Union, didn't outweigh that factor.

You can't seem to utilize reason and have an objective view of factual information. You have proven that. Perhaps some day you will have an original thought.

Basil Plumley| 7.13.09 @ 1:35PM

Bob

You said-He did say he believed in diplomacy which, in its formulation, means that in order to achieve your goals, you must admit mistakes. True exceptionalism INCLUDES honesty -- but that is something that you, and other ideologues, would not recognize.

That includes speaking to our enemies without preconditions (or with depending on the flip-flop).
Changing policy is possibly the admission of a mistake. That is diplomacy. Diplomacy does not mean you go around the world waving your soiled underwear. His latest trip to Russia and Italy shows it doesn't work. In Russia, he came off as something of a joke. After all, he looked into the heart of Medvedev and saw a man he could trust.

Have you no pride in America?

Now you're an expert on IL politics? That's funny, even hilarious. Voting "present" means you don't have to go on the record to show support one way or another. Perhaps you can enlighten all of us as to how his "present" vote changed the bill as written.

By all means Bob, keep shoveling and by all means keep the apologies for Obama flying.

civil engineers| 7.27.09 @ 7:37AM

I was thinking of looking up some of them newspaper websites, but am glad I came here instead. Although glad is not quite the right word… let me just say I needed this after the incessant chatter in the media, and am grateful to you for articulating something many of us are feeling - even from distant shores. Please come visit my site civil engineers when you got time.

employment agency| 7.27.09 @ 7:43AM

Hello mate, I want to thank you for this nice blog. Would you mind telling me some secrets for a succesful blog ? Which could attract some visitors than it normally does. Please come visit my site employment agency when you got time.

marriage and family therapy| 7.28.09 @ 12:10AM

Congratulations, you just earned yourself an entry in my feed reader, great blog. Please come visit my site marriage and family therapy when you got time.

massage therapists| 7.28.09 @ 12:10AM

There is obviously a lot more than this. Would you mind telling me how long it took you to gather your content? Please come visit my site massage therapists when you got time.